A Tidbit about The Muses and Inspiration

While working on "The Tools Of Poetry Workshop" tonight I stumbled across a small snippet of extra interest:

"The muses, the Greek inspirers of the creative arts, were the daughters of Memory, or Mnemosyne."1

Ok, so I'm sure some of you already knew that the translation of Mnemosyne was Memory but I didn't and so I found it intriguing to put two and two together to determine the truth that all inspiration comes from memory. If anyone knows, I'd love to know what the daughters names translate to.

I've always believed that inspiration was self-empowered and that goes to show that it can never be lacking. Motivation may be but inspiration is everywhere, it's in the mind and in the eye. All we see and do and feel is stored in our memory and it is from our memory that inspiration, the muses, are born.

Oh well. I thought it was an interesting insight and wanted to share. If it weren't already gone midnight I'd go look up the names of the daughters of Mnemosyne and discover if their literal name translations have deeper meanings also.

***

Of course, turn a page or two and it's right there. The names of the muses and a distinction of sorts:

Calliope (epic poetry)
Clio (history)
Erato (love poetry)
Euterpe (lyric poetry)
Melpomene (tragedy)
Polyhymnia (songs to the gods)
Terpsichore (dance)
Thalia (comedy)
Urania (astronomy)


Footnotes
1 "The Poetry Dictionary" by John Drury
First Edition, Page 158: Memory

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About Rebecca Laffar-Smith

Hi! I'm Rebecca Laffar-Smith and I still suffer that ugly, evil writer's block whenever I feel the pressure to talk(write) about myself. Of course, I have to get over that, writers shouldn't be afraid to boast of a little ego (at least in public) it's good for our image.

I'm a freelance copy writer/editor, published poet, and aspiring fantasy novelist. The novel writing is what I'd really love to do full time but for the moment I'm pumping out (read: sluggishly and with multiple pit stops) my first novel. Meanwhile, I try to make ends meet by taking on copy editing/writing commissions, writing non-fiction articles, and occasionally writing and submitting poetry.

While all this is in the works I also dedicate a lot of time to my blogs:-

The Writer's Round-About - A blog for writers about writing and living a writer's life with the ups, the downs, and the round and round and rounds.

Kids, Pets and Family! - A site for parents dealing with the general chaos, boundless challenges and joy-filled triumphs of modern family living.

I live with my dog, cat, seven-year-old daughter and three-year-old son in the outer suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. We love our Aussie home and the easy-going lifestyle found in Perth. It's a mixture of country, suburban, and city living that melds in a pleasant harmony.

While I really love my home, I'd also love the opportunity to travel and 'see the world'. I would particularly like to travel to Ireland and the USA. I love making new friends around the world and I really enjoy the chance to learn about other cultures, locations and languages. Our world is an interesting place.

Well, there you go, more than two cents about me and I'm only blushing a little. It's nice to meet you. I'm looking forward to getting to know you better so I hope you'll send me an email. Would you like to subscribe to one of my blog feeds?

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